Are You Prepared for the Two-Minute Warning?

Let’s get ready for end-of-year giving! The next few weeks the Journal will contain portions of my playbook, The Two Minute Drill for Giving: How to Build an Effective End-of-Year Strategy.

Are you prepared for the two-minute warning when it comes to increasing your giving? If you are a football fan, you know what the two-minute warning is. Winning teams have set two-minute drills they run, which they repeatedly practice throughout the year. The two-minute warning for a church is the start of end-of-year giving. Consider this for nonprofits:

• 30% of annual giving occurs in December.
• 12% of annual giving occurs on the last 3 days of the year.

Churches are no different, seeing a huge upswing in giving in the last quarter of the year. Whether your fiscal year ends in the fourth quarter or not, the statistics show that end-of-year giving can make a huge difference. That means…

Your 4^th quarter might be the difference between making budget or not.

Since the 4^th quarter is so important, NOW is the time to prepare for your best 4^th quarter.

It starts by understanding that:

• Preparation is the key to a successful 4^th quarter of giving.
• The lack of preparation is one of the biggest reasons churches underperform in their end-of-year giving. Now is the time to finalize our plans for end-of-year giving. Let’s get started.

The basics of an end-of-year appeal – Here are some basic thoughts for you to think through.

• Deciding what your “ask” will be. Determine where you need the money the most, which is what the appeal needs to focus on. See the Vision Worksheet on page 9.
• Craft the story behind the “ask.” Every “ask” or appeal must have what I call a driver behind it. In other words, what will drive or motivate me to give you more money?
• Be positive! You might be way behind on giving, but you want your donors to want to give, not feel like they must give.
• Make the appeal not about reaching some number but advancing the Kingdom.
• Make it personal.
• Focus on one thing, not multiple things.
• Make it easy for them to contribute.
• Get your tools ready to support your end-of-year appeal.

My goal for you is to raise at least one week’s worth of offering for your church!

December 31 will be here before you know it. The time to plan for end-of-year giving is now. The sooner you start your planning, the more effective your end-of-year giving results will be. Let’s get started!